Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1887-06-12
m Wife OF An ESrF.
..e. iran Real Lie Ia The SibsiIsh
,s,.s q tea Hrsbiad BIniSssa
bya Rival
-. p.~lau Police o@ sIal 61s Rsa IF
s....wf.l RIVAL in L0ve-stS Is
:, Bsoksn Lives and Pafile
Esors for Freedom from
veFehoisask>

- rriter Of the following sketch
.Tss Press was for ten years travel
TargDean correspondent Of the
- Dsily News and New York
s-.a Alter the loss Of the Jean
49, - was sent to Russian Siberia %
- fiaings Of the Inflated Arctic ex-
seitgBs
q verehoiausk. the coolest inhabit-
-.ssl1ment IN Siberia, six Thousand
- fistaut from Mosc0w, three thou
- 9ge north from Irkutsk and the
-. iraperial post road and caravan
~, tbst stretches from the Urais 70
~ paeidc. / met q number Of exiies
- I'D been hanfshed to within
$500 hzlling distance Of the Polar
ghsx were mostly politicals;" that
80 who had been arrested on sns-
s.ios q being sgitators and had been
srilsd As persons dangerous 70 the well
- Il he State. With four or five Of
a. I became quite vel acquainted,
~ al especially Interested in their
.ssempfs 10 learn English, which they
- doing with the intention 81
sssstually bOping 10 make their escape
y vay q Behring Straits Is san
fr1hfisco.
mar plan was 20 secure a large boat
Verch0iansk, in which, provided
- guns and ammunition, they we're
: embark as Il starting on a summer
kuntinR expedition. Their departure
rould hardly create any surprise. as
Afy had often gone on these hunting
soa1, though II somewhat smaller
bat
That escape from Siberia is possible
a fact. bat Is attended with great
Salcalties and risks. In purneying
sleng the great Siberian post road IN
3 sied from Orenburg 20 Irkutsk the
traveller viii Oeeasionally be accosted
y desperate, fnmished. fOotsore way
fsrsrs, Who crave from him few ko-
peaks
These wFetched creatures are exiles
sndeav0ring 10 make their way back
% European Russia. During the day
thsy keep a little 10 one side OF the
great highway. fearing detection, bat
snder cover Of night they stealthily
enter the villages and find shelter in
tise oush0uses Of the peasants home
ssads.
Bread Is often placed for them upon
DE benches which stand before the
doors Of the villagers huts. for the 81.
beflan peasant has strong sympathy
for the banlshed ones. Thus il i that
The fugitives can travel thousands OF
niles without mourning much risk oil
death FROM hunger by the way. Sibe-
rams assert, indeed. that 80 per cent.
d the Siberian exiles manage TO es-
cape and official figures have recently
been published 20 the effect that 2577
q the . ,s2s colonist exiles sent 20 the
district Of Torusk. 9Tg-that il, one
bird OF the entire number-had es.
caped Asa matter OF fact, however,
aoi I've per cent succeed ia return
ing b Russia, even from those districts
nearssE TO the European portion Of the
empire.
THE CHANCES FOR ESCAPE.
For those, however, who are sent to
the most northern part Of Siberia, to
within few hundred miles OF the Are
tic Ocean, there is but little hope of
deliyefanee. Nerehoiausk Is consid.
cred the coolest inhabited place in the
world. IL is small collection Of ma
tive huis and Russian Lighthouses
planted near 20 bat not on the Yana
riyeT. The street-if 50 il may be
called extends on either side OF a mar
row sheet OF water. a kind OF ereek
formed by the autumn overflow of the
fsna, and which In winter forms the
frozen promenade or driving place for
sleds. It Is dreary place enough.
The summer lasts only four months.
and during the other eight OF the year
Il Is bitterly cold; the thermometer
sometimes Indicating So degrees below
zero and seldom going abos e 80 degrees
until April ~. Corn will not grow Ia
this desolate region. OF vegetables
there are only the radish and he tur-
nip. The ground rarely thaws, even
during the hot season, beyond twelve
or eighteen inches deep. and in places
most exposed 20 the sun never beyond
three feet
Most OF the dwellings are Yakut
hats, built OF FIX trees reared against a
square framework and covered thickly
with mud 10 keep out the cold. In
one Of these lived the four exiles with
whom ] became acquainted, together
With a woman-the wife OF one OF them
who kept the little hut In order.
evoked the meals and repaired the
mems apparel.
Leon, the leader Of the four. was a
young man Of superior intelligence, ot
an amiable, kindly disposition. lie
bad been arrested ia July. ISIS. COM
United 30 prison at Odessa. and in Au-
gust, ls19, sent 30 Siberia by admin.
etrative order, arriving in Vereh0i.
ansk IN March, 1850 He had been ar
h,sfarlly imprisoned and had never
been tried before any court. Neither
vas he guilty Of any crime beyond that
q being a Socialist-oF. perhaps, an
embryonic Nihiiist. The Russian au-
houties did not treat him with any
special severity. In fact. he aud hi.
companions employed themselves pref
y much as they pleased. An allow.
ssnoe Of - month each was regularly
banded 10 them by the lspraynik. A,
hey were not permitted 20 work foi
enumeration. they had little else e. a,
taan % await patiently the intreauenl
nails, and 20 study the English Ian
gaagc In the hope Of the better tim,
coming.
There was another exile whom
sometimes met with Leon al the l.
ffavnik ; house who deeply intcrestc,